Yankee goes south;

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YANKEE
GOES
Charles L. Clapp writes from
Santiago, Chile on adapting
professional technique and living
to the Latin American scene.
Our Latin American practice is 7,500 miles long! Stretch­ing
from the Rio Grande to Southern Chile, it covers
more than twice the distance from San Diego to Anchor­age.
We service engagements in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and
Recife, Brazil—farther apart than Seattle and Miami.
Because United States businessmen began to look to
Latin America as an expanding market after World War
I, it became increasingly apparent that our practice
needed to be extended down here to serve our U. S. cli­ents'
interests. Deloitte, Plender, Haskins & Sells firms
were established in Cuba and Mexico in 1924 and in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay in 1929 or
shortly thereafter. Our office in Venezuela was opened
in 1956 and the one in Bogota, Colombia in 1959. In all,
we have today 14 offices in Latin America.
For many years following World War I, there was
only one other international firm with an extensive prac­tice
in Latin America. After World War II, a number of
U. S. accounting firms became more active here, and
today most of the eight largest firms practice in Latin
America, either on their own or through representation
by local accountants. Developing a new practice is diffi­cult
and costly, and Haskins & Sells has been fortunate
in its early entry into Latin America, which has enabled
us to meet effectively the needs of clients with branches
or subsidiaries here. The roster includes many of our
well-known U. S. clients.
The success of our practice down here depends in­creasingly
upon the capable Latin American accountant
(Contador Publico is the title by which he is generally
known.) Standards for becoming a professional account­ant
vary widely from country to country, depending to
a large extent on educational opportunities and level
of economic development. In some countries consider­able
progress has been made, and the standards for
qualification as an accountant are high. International
accounting firms such as ours have encouraged this prog­ress.
In some of these countries it can be more difficult
to become a Contador Publico or its equivalent than
to obtain a CPA certificate in some states in the U. S.
In other cases progress is evident, although it is not as
rapid as we and our Latin American colleagues would
like. Because of this unevenness of standards, on-the-job
training here is especially important.
Accounting as a profession in Latin America is even
newer than it is in the United States. Its expansion in
the U.S. reflects the demands brought about by income
taxation, SEC reporting requirements, and the need of
lending institutions for audited statements. However,
similar conditions do not presently exist in many Latin
American countries. Medicine, law, engineering, and
architecture are the prestige professions down here.
Accountancy generally in Latin America has yet to come
of age. Capable Latin American accountants are inval­uable
in this environment, because leadership in im­proving
educational and professional standards can most
naturally come from them. They recognize what is
needed and are pursuing their goals vigorously. This is
why capable Latin Americans should advance to the
highest possible level of management in firms such as
ours.
Adapting Techniques
Auditing and accounting techniques must be adapted
to the conditions of each particular country. In some,
for example, it is impracticable to examine endorse­ments
on cancelled checks, since they are not returned
by the bank and only a listing is furnished of the num­bers
of the checks paid during the month. Under such
circumstances, it is difficult to apply precisely our usual
programs, and alternative procedures must be used.
Most Latin American business is conducted under the
Napoleonic code, which requires that for important
documents to have legal standing they be inscribed in
a public book kept by a Notary Public. In most coun­tries
it is also mandatory that official books and account-
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